C James

CRUNCH!!! That, I realized, was the sound of a garbage can being knocked over by my Jeep. Not exactly an auspicious start when I’d been on my way for all of, oh, half a dozen seconds and had not even left my own driveway. After hesitating for a moment, I finished backing out into the street and glanced back at the house. I hoped my parents hadn’t heard the noise. Seeing a light come on, I slowly pulled away. I’d have preferred to clean up the mess but I knew that my folks would have us

2006 Summer Anthology

A belated happy birthday!!!! I hope you have a great time!! :king:

Ben is a short story spinoff of Circumnavigation, though it can be read alone.

Yep, Trevor is heading south... and it's spring there, a season for storms. Ali had an unplanned stop for lunch. Henry will be a recurring character... He's a little unconventional, but good at what he does. Marine tape helps, but just about any leak gets worse over time (likre a leaky roof.. you can patch it, but eventually it gets worse). The problem is that Atlantis is badly damaged, and getting worse by the day. You're right; freezing to death is one of the dangers Trevor faces. It's spring in the story (october, at this point) a season for storms. (Spring is often as bad or worse than winter in that area). Cliffhanger? :blink: What cliffhanger? Trevor is just sailing. It should be relaxing. We'll be seeing Algol (Demon Star)again. I think she's well named. And Lol, yep... not the most subtle of stakeouts... and Henry made monkeys out of them. Great link, thank you!!! Yep, rogue waves are a massive peril in stormy seas. If Trevor even gets the inside of the boat too wet, he's dead... And a goat? Surely a goat would never do such a thing as that? BTW, time to release the new chapter name... It's getting close to Christmas and I'm a sentimental type, so I picked a nice, happy, Nordic name: Maelstrom. CJ

Here's the wikipedia definition. I'll quote a bit below. I have an interest in psychology, so the concept appealed to me. I'll reveal what I was trying to do at the end of this post. Thank you! I enjoy learning, and I always enjoy adding technical detail when I can. In one of my other stories there's an extremely detailed description of the internal workings of a nuclear warhead. I still get mixed review from that: some people hated it, some loved it. Wow, solar navigation in ANWR? Good idea on the flooding sand: that would level it, and make for accuracy. I love Alaska. I've never been north of Fairbanks, but I'd like to, to see more (though there's a heck of a lot south of Fairbanks I haven't seen yet, either). The furious 50's... and in the most violent streach of sea on the face of the earth. Not a good mix. ********************************************************* Okay, Synchronicity... The synchronicity was Trevor and Ali. They both were, in rather similar circumstances, shoved up against the railing, then thrown into the sea to die. The first time (Trevor) was at Ali's orders, done by his crew. The second time, it was done to Ali by his crew. A further connection is that Trevor's work was responsible for causing Ali's fate: Ali's paranoia was triggered by the sabotaged engines. Here's part of the scene with Ali, Here's Trevor, in chapter 48, There are many parallels, including some of the phrasing. One other example is that Ali and Trevor both had to watch their boats being taken away, leaving them to near certain death.

Google is a wonderful thing, especially for finding out things... Might I suggest googling king of evil cliffhangers and seeing what comes up? I'll see if I can add a link to do it for you, but it works if you just type or paste the line into google. It seems to work for this from anywhere on the planet. (Google is usually regionally sorted) So, this makes it official: Wildone is the King of Evil Cliffhangers!!! :worship: :king: :king:

Evil? Me? Since when have I ever done anything that could be construed as evil? 0:) Manipulative? Me? Now when have i ever done such a thing as that... But but but... Trevor might actually be safer where he's at... enjoying a nice, relaxing ocean voyage. Ashore, he has to deal with concerns like Sanchez and Bridget.

Not I, for I never use cliffhangers. I did see mention, by more than one person in other threads, that you are deserving of Queen of evil Cliffhangers, so I thought I'd be helpful and remind people to nominate you.

Fifteen hours... a long, tiring shift, but Jeff had grown used to it. It was just one of the many hardships that he had to accept, in order to work at Club Leo. Exhausted from his day of dealing with the tourists, Jeff pulled himself down the hallway, daydreaming, and as a result nearly passing the door to his room. Smiling with anticipation at the thought of looking out the window, Jeff slipped his keycard into the reader slot and waited a moment until the lock indicator changed from

Jeff didn't like being forced to leave Club Leo, but sometimes, it's just time to go, even if it means jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Welcome aboard, Cia!! CJ

Circumnavigation 56 : Synchronicity is up! I'm wondering if anyone can figure out the meaning of the title. :chris:

:blink: Graeme!! Let's not get that ugly rumor started again! Would sweet, innocent (and impartial) me ever do such a thing as that? Oh, and BTW, when it comes to cliffhangers, let us always remember, and never forget, that Graeme is wanted by the police! The Cliffhanger Police!

Thanks Andy! Circumnavigation is very much a team effort. The places are easy; I've been to most of them. For the nautical stuff, I have the advantage of expert advice, such as from Red A, who is a true expert. I also need to thank our forum posters, who keep me on my toes. The feedback here lets me know how things are coming across, and that helps the story too. I don't say this often enough, so I'll take the opportunity now: Thank you, one and all. CJ

Thanks Red! I like sci-fi, provided it's hard sci-fi: obeys reasonable interpretations of physical laws, etc. "Leaving Club Leo" was my first try at sci-fi, and it was fun to wrote. I had to do a lot of math, to such as to determine how many feet per second change in delta-v was required to raise an orbit by a given number of miles.

I can say, with absolute certainty, that no member of the committee was coerced or bribed in any way. The utterly impartial committee, with total impartiality (and utter unanimity) came to its verdict very quickly. But but but... I never use cliffhangers, so I think you must be mistaken! But, that's a dam, so it doesn't count. If that's true, it's horrible, and I must be foiled in my nefarious scheme. The easiest way to do so it to vote against me.

Krista has a dizzying evil cliffhanger to her credit in "Are you Christian", so how about Krista for Queen of Cliffhangers? (The title, King or Queen, is determined by the recipient's gender) So, how about it? Krista for Queen of Cliffhangers! Has a nice ring to it.

So you're saying I should start much earlier next year? Well, okay, if you say so...

Hrmmm, denials and more denials... Tsk, tsk... As you can clearly see below, I am not the only one who considers that limerick a cliffhanger. You left Benji hanging, too! Yep, that's a cliffhanger, all right... becuase we still don't know what happens when you hit on a mountie! Is there any better definition of a cliffhanger than that? Hrmmm, I'd say this confirms it, the frog as left us with one heck of a cliffhanger!

But but but... I'd never have anything to do with a cliff, or a cliffhanger! And, might I point out that it's four... There have been three GA Awards King of Cliffhangers votes, and the one award preceding them, given by the impartial and anonymous committee. The winner for that one was Shadowgod, GA's first King of Cliffhangers, and for that reason the King of Cliffhanger award is often referred to as "Shadowgod's Cliffhanging Throne". CJ

For the benifit of those new to our forum, I thought I'd post a breif history of the King of Cliffhangers award. The King of Cliffhangers Award began several years ago. It was was handed out, with utter impartiality, by a very select and secretive committee, appointed by the utterly impartial head of GA's Writer Support Team. This committee, whose member's identities were confidential, were identified only by their official titles. There was an author, a hosted author, a moderator, an administrator of GA, a GA Team Leader, a former Anthology Coordinator, etc. (There were scurrilous rumors spread regarding the membership of this committee, but I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that the committee was unanimously devoted to its purpose!) This high and noble (and utterly impartial) committee deliberated, carefully weighed the evidence, and bestowed the very first King of Cliffhangers award. The decision was absolutely unanimous: Shadowgod was the first recipient of the King of Cliffhangers award, due to posting a chapter that is know to this day as "The Mother of all Cliffhangers". Then, at that point, a group of miscreants and agitators, began miscreating and agitating... Anyway, they agitated, and had the King of Cliffhangers award made part of the GA Reader's Choice Awards, to be voted on by the GA membership instead of being decided on by the utterly impartial committee. I, naively trusting in the integrity of honest elections, thought all would be well, but little did I know the extent of depravity and utter evil of certain agitators. So, to my shock and abject horror, I watched, helpless, as they nominated me, and then, in the election itself, they waged a campaign of disinformation, and managed to get me, the devout avoider of cliffhangers, elected King of Cliffhangers! I was shocked, devastated, appalled... And even moreso when they did the same again the following year. Thankfully, I was spared such an unjust fate last year, and was not nominated. So, there we have it: a history of the King of Cliffhangers award.

Au contrare, your amphibiousness; There are no cliffhangers in Circumnavigation, yet you have claimed otherwise. Shame on you. As for cliffhanging poetry (written by a Tennessee Cliffhanger Chirping Frog) I will cite one (of many examples) from your limericks: So, what happened when he hit on the Mountie? We don't know! You left us HANGING! Therefor, this is clearly a cliffhanger!

Yep, especially in rough seas, that's going to be a tripper-upper. ****************************************************************** Anyone have any questions about Atlantis's jury rig or condition? The photo below shows the wooden wall, and over it, the netting sail (before it was taken down) The wood sail is darker on the ends (that's where the flooring is) and the lighter plywood is the top side of the salon ceiling paneling. The X is the heavy cabling. At the mast top the improvised radar reflector and Victor (distress) flag flying. The taped bullet hole patches are barely visible as specs scattered about above the waterline. CJ

Here is another author we should consider for King of Cliffhangers: our resident amphibian, MikeL! He is a poet, and has several poems posted. I can only note that some of his poems have been declared cliffhangers. Why not a poet for King of Cliffhangers?